The son of a peripatetic father and a beauty queen, Josh grew up all over the world, which instilled early on an ability to adapt. At 18, he rafted China's Li River in an inner tube. At 21, he wrote and directed "West Coast," a 35 mm feature film set in San Francisco. After "West Coast," Josh began alternately writing and working as a data entry clerk. His work (the writing part) has appeared in GQ, Wired, Outside, Mens Health and Food & Wine.

His writing has since been anthologized in the 2006 and 2007 editions of "The Best Technology Writing" as well as the 2007 edition of "Best American Science Writing."

In April of 2003, Josh snuck into Iraq to cover the war for Wired and later that year became a contributing editor for the magazine.

In 2005, Random House published his first book, "The Underdog" - a recounting of Davis' armwrestling, bullfighting, sumo, sauna and backward running adventures.